Alright, time to jump in. Sorry for the length, but most people won't read the whole thing anyway.

Kerry's comment was nothing more than a misinterpreted joke. I guess people on the right just don't understand humor of any kind. When I first heard the entire quote, I understood what he meant. It was directed at Bush, pure and simple.

I love how NY wants to see "like Bush", or "the administration". I guess we have got to spell it out so simply for people like him, so there is no way to not understand. Or just make sure they listen to the entire thing, instead of just hearing the last part. Freudian slip, bullshit, more like selective hearing for the republicans, and a complete and total lack of a sense of humor.

I think SE is right on when he alluded to the sad story of the feeding frenzy for recruiters in poor areas. People join the military for a variety of reasons, but one of the biggest is because they have no other options. The military has been lowering requirements for service for years, how does that fit into the "well educated" category. While it is true that nearly 100% of the military at least have a high school education, a larger percentage of the general populace have at least some college.

In high school I was accepted to West Point and the Air Force Academy. During that year I broke my left hip playing soccer, and was unable to complete the physical requirements to attend. I joined ROTC at Mines, and was gone after a year. I went from ready for service to running away when I met the very people I would be working with. They were generally substandard students, who I thought would make piss-poor officers - I could tell some great stories about the CU women getting ready for commission.

A majority of people in the military are intelligent, and will recieve an education, but by no means is everyone serving today scholars. Many won't recieve any true education until they get out. After that many will, and have, gone on to great things, but ask them if they were ready for war as a 19 year old high school grad, and many will admit no.

Lastly, we are gunna be hiring an Iraqi War vet here at the mine. He is a great guy, intelligent, hard working, but not educated. He has no skills applicable to our trade, no college, no trade school. But we are gunna hire him anyway, train and educate him, and give him a career with a real potential to make a lot of money.

NY - how many vets have you helped out, given good jobs and education to?